Page 72 of Tough Guy and the Show Off

“Of course.”

“Then don’t be stupid.”

We fall silent for a moment, and I don’t know what Trav is thinking, but I’m absorbing his scent, the sound of his breath, the soothing feeling of his fingers in my hair.

“I was thinking I might get a cat,” he says after a few minutes.

“A cat? You’ve never talked about wanting a cat.”

“It could be nice. Something waiting for me to get home. And they’re easier to take care of with all my travel.”

My heart squeezes. He’s lonely.

“A cat could be nice. You should probably wait for post-season so you have time to get used to each other.”

“Yeah, good idea. Maybe two cats so they keep each other company.”

“I saw a video that said a lot of cats like being alone.”

“Hmm. Okay. What’s your apartment like?”

“It’s in a historic building that’s really nice. The apartment itself is okay. It’s smaller than what I had in Boston, but it works.”

“So you’re happy, then?” His question is somber. “No problem adjusting to your new team and new city at all?”

“It would be better if you were here.”

He snorts a laugh. “Yeah?”

“Of course.” I adjust to scoot up so I’m closer to his face. “I think about you every day, Trav. Constantly.”

He searches my eyes then nods. “I think about you too. Probably more than I should. Jurowski is right. I’ve been tame on the ice.”

“I noticed, but I didn’t want to say anything. Coach say anything?”

“Are you kidding? He rides my ass daily. The guys are giving me side-eye too, but what the fuck do they expect?” He huffs a breath. “They expect me to do what you’ve been doing. Busting your ass and showing everyone what’s up, but I can’t find my footing.”

“You will, babe.” I squeeze his hand. “This is a bump, but you’ll get over it. You’re Travis fucking Showalter, one of the greats.”

Shaking his head, he smiles. “You’re good for my ego.”

“It’s easy to be when you dominate like you do. I just have to remind you.”

Trav searches my eyes before leaning in and kissing me. Every time he does, my mind is blown again. Kissing Trav feels so right, like I was always meant to kiss him.

“Let’s see what’s happening online. I bet the fans for both teams have a lot to say about our first matchup since the trade.”

I nod, curling up next to him as he grabs his phone from the nightstand and opens a browser page. Sure enough, comments flood every announcement about the Magic and the Huskies match tonight.

“Look at this one,” Trav says. “There’s no Show without Beau. Ouch.”

“They mean it lovingly.” A comment catches my eye too, then I see it repeated again and again. “Oh wow. Hashtag Bring Back ShowBeau-t. It’s trending.”

Trav navigates to a popular sports page where the posts are flooded with the hashtag.

“‘Whose idiotic idea was it to trade Bozy?’” Trav reads.

“‘Jurowski is great, but at the loss of Beau? WTF, man,’” I read.